For a Fox to Fit in
by GarrulousParakeet
Summary: For a fox, fitting in at Bunnyburrow is a daunting task. Perhaps with a little help from a friend it doesn't have to be? A (not so) fluffy Wildehopps story.
1. Fox in the rabbit hole

**_Authors Note: Ok! So after the decidedly brutal 7_** ** _th_** ** _chapter of my main project at the moment, I decided to take on a prompt given to me by tumblr user mama-bunbun! Do pay her a visit and show her some love if you have the time : ) ._**

 ** _This will be a fluffy story (originally a one shot), set in a high school in bunny burrow. This isn't the kind of stuff I usually write, but I thought I would give it a shot._**

 ** _Also, just to clarify, both Nick and Judy are sophomores in high school in this au, so the age difference is going to be set aside._**

The emotionally drained fox slumped up against the train window, glossy eyes taking in the charming scenery as the train made its way into the station.

BunnyBurrow

Despite looking so pleasant, from Nick's perspective the burrows were as dreary a place as one could hope to find. The young fox bit his lip and exhaled, fogging up the window slightly before turning to look at his mother, sleeping next to him, only to look back outside again, his paws clammy from the anxiety currently over taking him.

The teens in his old neighbourhood could be cruel sometimes. Zootopia held some vile people within its borders, many of whom held their own foul beliefs. But, at least he knew them.

Whenever Shaun showed up to his after school hangout spot under the bridge, he knew what the sheep's intentions were. That sheep was going to rough him up. Then he was going to beat up his friends.

It was awful

It was predictable.

Now he was going to be stuck in a backwater neighbourhood filled with bunnies.

Despite these bunnies being half his size, they were going to pick fights with him.

And he was going to take it.

Nick was never a fighter, preferring to use his words to squirm his way out of life's sticky situations. It served him pretty well when he ran away from home as a kit, got him places he needed to be.

But kids didn't listen to reason.

The wicked webs he would weave with his silver tongue never changed their minds. Because they were young, and they wouldn't listen to reason.

Nick whined slightly, he wasn't going to like this. He wasn't going to like this one bit.

"Sweetie, this is going to be good for us…" His mother spoke, her eyes still closed, "You just need to calm down."

"Ya, ma. Calm down. Gotcha" the slightly smaller fox rolled his eyes at the proposal, grimacing at how little her statement helped ease him.

 _Calm down? Easy for her to say!_

He knew she was just trying to get some shut eye before they had to get off the train, and would likely have said anything keep him from having a nervous breakdown right now, but she wasn't helping.

"Ma, you aren't the one that has to go to school with these kids!"

His mother immediately opened her eyes and sat up.

"You're right _Nicholas_ , I only have to work with them," seeing the pain in her son's eyes, she slumped back in her seat, "You know they're honest folk honey. You're going to make friends here."

" _Humph"_ was the other fox's only reply.

…

Nick had to push his way past several squirming rabbits to get to the back seats off the bus.

" _There is plenty of room back here! Why did they all insist on squishing together in the first couple of rows!?"_ the only fox on the entire bus thought to himself, carrying his hefty book bag in front of him as he went, bumping into several bunnies because he couldn't see the tiny high schoolers hidden beneath the sack filled with school supplies.

"Hey, _watch it_!"

" _Asshole…_ "

"Sorry! Sorry…"

After a needlessly interminable amount of time, Nick found his way to the back of the bus.

"Hey, um… Is this seat taken?" the fox had asked several cougars and a few ferrets the same question before reaching the prudish jaguar.

The spotted cat didn't say anything, only raising an eyebrow.

Nick didn't budge.

"Are you serious?"

"Y-Yes?"

The cat scoffed before standing up and pushing past the fox, taking an open seat next to a bunny.

" _Better a bunny than a fox? Ok…"_

Nick took the now open seat and sat his bag down next to him, placing his forehead in his paws. _Yeah, this was gonna be good for him alright._

" _Can't this bus get a move on? C'mon! Let's go"_ Nick was nearly on the verge of tears, already wanting this day to be over, when he felt a tender paw tap his shoulder gingerly.

"Hey! Uh… is this seat taken?"

It was a bunny, a single finger on her paw pointing gently to the seat next to him, his books currently taking up the spot.

He sat there for a moment in awe, and then laughed to himself.

The female bunny put her free hand in her hip, the other carrying her note books.

"Move the bag"

"No"

" _Move it_ "

Nick angrily picked up his book bag and let it fall into his lap.

...

The majority of the ride to school the two didn't speak a word to each other.

"So what gives, Carrots?" Nick asked, turning to the bunny as the bus rounded the corner onto a dirt road, almost reaching their destination.

"The ground? Trust me, my parents are carrot farmers. If anyone knows where they come from it would be me."

"I mean-"

"Yeah, I know what you mean you rude little Reynard." She turned her nose up to him haughtily.

Nick slammed his head repeatedly against the cushiony head rest of the bus.

"Why-"

 _Slam_

 _"_ Did you-"

 _Slam_

"Want to sit next a nasty old fox like me?"

 _Slam_

The bunny placed a paw on her chin and looked up to roof of the old bus, as if somewhere in its rusted tin make she would find the answer. As she thought, the bus pulled up to the school.

"Probably because my boyfriend over there," she pointed towards a jackrabbit laughing along with his buddies, "would rather sit next to his team mates. Whom I don't really care for."

She shrugged as she stood up, taking her books back up into her hands as she smiled a tight lip smile at the fox.

"And I _guess_ I couldn't bear the thought of seeing the new kid all alone. I just didn't think he would be such an asshole" she continued, her smile softening slightly.

"I'm Judy Hopps by the way" she said, her paw extended towards him.

The fox took it in his own and shook.

"Nick Wilde-"

As the bus doors flung open the entire tin can seemed to shake, startling the already shaken vulpine, his ears drooping flat against his head.

"Geez Louise…" Judy let go of his paw and started making her way down the aisle.

"What? What!" he started after her.

By the time Nick finally exited the bus the kind soul had disappeared into the sea of bunnies and the occasional predatory species. He swallowed heavily as he looked up at the sign hanging over the gates to the school.

"Woodlands High"

…

"Geez Louise…" Judy let go of his paw and started making her way down the aisle.

"What? What!" Nick had shouted out to her as she slid through the crowd to reach the bus doors.

" _He's cute_ "

…

The jack rabbit tossed the football into the air before catching it in his paws.

Off in the distance he could see a fox sulking as he walked across the bustling campus grounds.

"Pred coming our way boys" one of the other rabbits spoke, narrowing his eyes slightly as Nick drew closer.

The Jack rabbit put a paw up to the other rabbit's chest.

"Chill guys"

"Hey, hey foxy!" the jackrabbit called out to the orange toned vulpine.

Nick thought for a moment about ignoring the call and continuing on to his next class.

He didn't.

"What's up?" he asked, feigning interest. This couldn't go well.

"You're knew here right? Names Jack Savage" he forcibly took the fox's paw in his own and shook it, grinning amiably.

"Nick…"

With the vigor the other rabbit shook his paw he felt like he would snap his arm off.

For being such a small little guy he seemed to command authority.

"I just want you to know that around these parts, prey or not, we don't tolerate nobody picking on the new kids"

Nick smiled, the gloom previously covering his candid face slowly clearing. The way this rabbit talked reminded him of those greaser foxes that would appear on those 70's styled shows his mother used to watch with him late into the night.

"Thanks… Hey, aren't you Judy's guy" Nick asked inquisitively.

"Yeah," Jack laughed to himself, "That's sort of why I called you over. She told me you were a decent fella. Didn't want you to run into any trouble."

 _Wow_

"Oh…Well I gotta get to class, thanks man. I'll see you around?" the fox began to walk off, obviously flattered.

The jackrabbit responded only with a slight nod and a sly grin.

…

"Hey Slick!" a feminine voice called out to him.

"Oh, Hey! Judy, right?"

The little bunny gave a smirk of delight and nodded. "Guess you aren't just a rude reynard _after all."_

"Oh believe me, I am." He smiled as the two began walking to their shared class, advisory with Mr. Gerbil.

"Well alright then, rude or not, I think I'll keep you. How's your first day holding up?"

"It was going smoothly until a certain bunny decided to sit next to me on the bus."

Judy lightly punched the fox's side, too short to reach his shoulder.

"I guess it wasn't all bad. I did find a new friend who is willing to physically abuse me!" he smiled as he lightly shoved her.

" _Well then,_ she sounds like a keeper to me."

…

Dinner was already set on the table by the time Nick had arrived home. He hurriedly threw his book bag by the door and kicked off his shoes, running over to the table so that he could start scarfing down his food as soon as possible.

"So…" his mother started, not wishing to disturb her hungry boy, "how…how was school?" she continued, already expecting a snide remark – he had been known to give those out liberally these days – and sat down.

"Okay I guess," he swallowed to speak before shoveling food into his abyss of a mouth again, "Met a girl" was all he said when next he swallowed.

 _"A girl? I knew there were foxes around these parts but I didn't expect him to find a vixen so early! Let alone one that would talk to him…"_

"Oh?" was all she said.

"Yup" he finished off his plate before hopping out of his chair to go wash his dishes.

…

"Oh, _sweet cheese and crackers_!"

The fox startled, wiping the sleep out of his eyes.

He had dozed off on the bus ride to school again, it had become a sort of ritual for him these past few months.

With Judy as his bus partner, he knew that nobody would mess with him. She may look tiny, but she packed quite the punch.

When he turned to his side he was surprised to see a frantic Judy tearing through her notebooks, sifting through the pages in the search for one particular set of notes.

"What's up?" Nick asked, slightly annoyed to be aroused from his peaceful pre-school nap.

"My trigonometry final in Mrs. Cowperns class is today and I was going to review on the bus ride over!"

"It can't be that hard, just wing it." The fox suggested, closing his eyes again.

"I can't 'just wing it' _Nick_! This is Z.B. Trig!"

Z.B.

Zootopian Baccalaureate.

Pretty much the most rigorous academic program in the Zootopian school district.

He opened his eyes again and straightened out his back.

"I thought you bunnies were good at multiplying?"

Judy answered his inquiry with an elbow to the ribs.

"Ok! Ok… I guess I am pretty good with numbers, show me the problem you're working on and I'll see what I can do" the reynard said, a paw rubbing his now aching side.

"Nick you're in geometry…"

"Well, I intend on being a _particularly_ savvy business man when I get older, Carrots, so I probably know more about mathematics then you think" he says, pinching her worksheet between two clawed fingers.

Judy snatched it away immediately.

"Trig has nothing to do with business!" she exclaimed, angrily gritting her cute little buck-teeth at him.

"You want to argue!? Or do you want to learn!?"

…

"Nick!"

His bus partner wrapped her arms around the fox, only able to reach his waist.

" _Aghh, Carrots!_ I need to get to my next class! The next final starts in like… 3 minutes and I actually can't afford to fail this one.

Judy kept her tight squeeze around the fox as they walked.

"What's the big idea? Why are you so clingy today?" he asked her, struggling to walk with a bunny wrapped around him.

"Nick, what you showed me made up 40 percent of the final, _and_ my answers all matched the multiple choice answers! If it wasn't for you I would have failed with a D!"

She clung to him like he had saved her life.

And he kinda liked it.

"Well, ya know, I _am_ pretty good with numbers" he said, patting her head as they walked.

"Hey guys!" Jack called out to the pair as they walked.

Judy released Nick and ran over to the jackrabbit, giving him the same affection she was showing Nick just a moment ago.

 _Mmmm_

"Hey Jack, aw geez, I really gotta scram. I can't miss this next final." Nick stated, patting his other rabbit friend on the shoulder before sprinting off to class.

"Dude, he was all over your gal!" one of Jack's posse members exclaimed, gyrating his hips in an effort to get his point across.

"Screw off Charlie." Judy responded, pushing the other rabbit away.

Jack simply raised his paw. "What did I tell you before man? Just _chill_."

…

Nick all but broke down the door to his house, another ritual he's taken a liking to the past months of school. He eagerly sat down at the dinner table and devoured his meal.

"So, how were finals today bud?" Mrs. Wilde asked, sitting down to join her son.

"Pretty good, failed the first one," his mother pouted, "pretty sure I passed the second one". She smiled gently and shook her head before reaching over for the silverware.

"Well, how have you been getting along with that Vixen?"

"The what?" Nick didn't bother to look up from his meal, continuing to eat at a pace that made one wonder how he managed to not choke.

"You know? Like, a female fox… you dummy! Don't act like you don't know"

"I've met like…"

 _Chew chew swallow_

"Like…"

 _Bite chew chew swallow_

"Three foxes on campus? And I hate all of them."

 _"What? If Judy wasn't a fox then what was she? A cougar? A jaguar?"_

"But… What about Judy."

For once the younger fox stopped shoveling food into his open maw. Instead, he sat his fork down on his napkin and looked at his mom.

"Ma, Judy is a bunny"

"A what?"

"Bunny, ya know. We have a few around these parts."

"You… you fell for a… rabbit?"

Nick looked down and away from her, unable to maintain eye contact anymore. Instead he got up and wandered off into his room.

…

"Nick?"

 _Mmmmm_

 _"Nick?"_

The tired lump on the bed several sizes too small for a fox pulled the covers over his bright red head.

Mrs. Wilde sat down on the bed beside him. As well as she could, there was hardly enough room for him alone.

"I'm sorry if I was insensitive last night"

The younger fox threw the covers off of his head.

"I… it's just that you know that people don't take very kindly to interspecies romance 'round these parts…"

Nicks claws slowly extended into his bed, gripping the mattress.

"But… I know how happy she makes ya. You hardly ever talk about anything at the dinner table aside from her anymore. I just want you to know, that if she really does make you happy, then I don't have in qualms with it."

Nick slowly retracted his claws, leaving little holes in the fabric.

"She has a boyfriend ma"

"Oh dear… Nick-"

"Ok, time to go to school! Bye ma, love you!" Nick through off the rest of his sheets and threw on some clothes, stumbling out of the room much like he had stumbled into it the night before.

…

Nick exhaled in satisfaction as he left the classroom.

Finals were over

 _Finally_

And to make matters even better, here came his favorite group of people.

"Hey guys!" he exclaimed as he waved to them, his expression much cheerier than usual.

"Hey buddy! We're on our way to a party at my place if you want to tag along?" the jackrabbit said, his arm around Judy's waist.

 _A party?_

 _And I'm invited?_

"Sh-Sure!" Nick struggled to talk, his tongue tied when faced with the sudden invitation.

"Alright, we're all gonna cram into Tyrone's car then, cause he's the only one of us that can drive. Might be a tight fit for you…" Jack reminded the fox.

"I'll make it work."

…

It _was_ a tight fit.

But he _did_ make it work.

That didn't stop him from being absolutely relieved when he finally fell out of the truck alongside the geyser of rabbits that came bursting forth when the doors opened.

As the group of rabbits, a couple sheep, two ferrets and a fox walked up Jack's driveway, the booming music radiating from inside the burrow only grew louder.

 _The party already started?_

 _Was Jack really late to his own party?_

 _He is so cool!_

Nick tried to contain his excitement, but was quickly foiled when they entered the burrow. Almost immediately, the entire party turned their heads to the fox knowingly.

"Hey Nick!"

"Nick!"

"Nick, my fox! What's up?"

He had never been this popular in the main city of Zootopia. Something told him this was all Jack's doing. The rabbit really did make his sophomore year bearable.

Immediately he was inducted into the festivities. It was a little hard to breathe in the stuffy burrow amidst all the rabbits, but he managed. The music resonated so loudly throughout the hollow that he felt his ears would bleed, and he was honestly surprised that the rabbits – with their hearing being as good as it was – were able to take this kind of auditory abuse. Regardless, he enjoyed himself. Unable to find a clock in any of the rooms the party was going on in, time sort of slipped away from the fox.

…

Nick wasn't a fan of club music, but when Judy asked him to dance he didn't dare refuse.

The fox and rabbit awkwardly made their way across the dance floor, jerking and jiving to the beat the massive speakers were supplying. Nick couldn't dance to save his life, but he danced anyways. The pair danced for what could have been hours as far as the fox could tell, but he would let it go on for years if he could.

Eventually breaking away from the main party, the two went out in search of water.

Not an easy task when the party consisted of four hundred teens.

Every time the fox found a cup, it was immediately snatched up by one of the faster bunnies.

Eventually, his guardian angel came to save him once again.

"Judy! Need some water?" Jack asked her, holding the cup out to her, which she happily took.

Ok, so maybe he _isn't_ his guardian angel, _whatever_.

Water cup in paw, Nick and Judy made their way to the back of the room, slightly less cramped then the rest of the hollow.

"Having fun slick!?" Judy screamed over the music.

"What!?" the fox leaned down and cupped a paw to his ear.

"Having fun **_slick_** _!?" she yelled again, this time into his ear._

 _"Oh…Yeah!"_ he replied, rubbing his ear tenderly.

 _She was loud when she wanted to be._

He rubbed his throat tenderly, looking back out into the crowd.

"Hey, you thirsty?"

"Yeah"

Judy smiled a close-lipped smile and held out her water cup, an eyebrow raised slightly.

Nick wholeheartedly took the cup in both paws and brought it to his lips, savoring it as it went down his throat.

"Th-Thanks…"

"Hey Nick? We were going to have a water balloon fight outside, care to join us?" Jack said, noticing the fox as he passed by, a filled balloon resting in his paws.

"Yeah, I'd love too! Judy?" he turned to his dance partner.

"I don't really feel like getting wet, but I'll watch." she said dismissively, taking the cup back from Nick.

…

The party goers made their way outside, atop the mound which Jack called home.

Water balloons were being passed out, and most everyone but Nick couldn't manage to get their paws on one.

"Alright! You guys ready?!" Jack shouted towards the teens, recently released from school.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Nick exclaimed, raising his paws in the air, waving them as he tried to get some bunnies attention.

"I don't have a balloon yet!" he said with a chuckle.

Judy, watching from the sidelines, smiled to herself before raising her cup up to her lips to take a sip.

Jack slapped the drink out of her paws.

"Go!"

Nick was immediately hit in the snout with a balloon, the latex quickly molding to his face before bursting on him.

And it _burned._

"What the _fu-"_ Nick couldn't finish his sentence, his eyes tearing up and snot running down his nose already.

It felt as though his entire upper body was sunburnt and someone just took a heat lamp to it.

He could hardly open his eyes but he swore his face was being pricked by a thousand white hot needles, and his vision turned red, fountains of tears streaming from the slits of his eye lids.

"Nick…"

He could hear Jack's voice.

"Buddy…"

 _What the hell?_

"You know the only way for a fox to fit in at the bunnyburrow, is to be tamed first. Don't you?"

The party goers erupted into laughter.

"You were right Jack! The look on his face was worth the wait!" a familiar voice called out, Charlie.

The rest of the party goers unleashed a barrage of water balloons, each one filled with the same solution used in fox repellent.

Nick curled up on the floor, resigned to succumb to his fate. If he could open his mouth he would probably be bawling for mercy, but the risk he would take by opening his mouth didn't seem worth it.

Until the balloons stopped, and the jeering quieted.

"Guys… What _the fuck_?"

It was Judy's voice.

"C'mon Jude."

"Yeah! Get out of the way Judy!"

"Go, go, go, go!"

"Why?" was all she asked. Her quivering voice representing the exact antithesis to the taunts coming from the crowd around them

"Why did you pretend to be his friend Jack?"

"Judy don't be like this"

" _Why_ Jack?"

The jack rabbit sighed loud enough for the shaking fox to hear it.

"How else could we get him to trust us? It took months to get my paws on this much fox repellent-"

"What the _hell_ did he ever do to you?" Judy sounded like she was nearly in tears now, her teeth gritted together in righteous fury.

" _Hey_! Don't you _dare_ act like you didn't see the way he looked at you Judy! Like you were _meat_. Like you were his _prey_. To think you were going to drink after him-"

"No one told me this was going to happen. I didn't… I didn't know this was what the party was about."

"Look Judy, I love ya but you've always been a little Miss goodie two shoes. You would have snitched."

Judy didn't respond.

"He brought this on to himself Judy, _he_ came into _our_ burrow."

The fox could only hear gross sobs coming from who he was almost certain was Judy.

"Judy, move."

" _Moving_ "

The female rabbit spat the words out at Jack as if they were poison.

Judy turned to the trembling fox and, putting his arm over her shoulder, made off into the night, much to the horror of the other party goers.

…

Everyone stood around Jack for a moment. Nobody having the nerve to speak.

Taking up his brothers baseball bat, Jack finally spoke.

"Let's go get them."

…

Judy was sprinting now, her paw tightly wrapped around the larger one of her vulpine companion.

He couldn't see if he wanted to, so she had to lead him.

She could run him into a tree if she wanted to. A pole, a lamp post.

But he trusted her, and she didn't let him down.

Older bunnies were leaving their burrows all throughout town, yelling into the night about "what all the racket was about".

Several blocks behind the fox and the rabbit hundreds of other bunnies filled the streets, charging out into the inky blackness in search of them.

"All this for me?" Nick said, trying his best to appear aloof despite looking like a mess.

"All this for you."

…

Overhead the two could hear the rapid stomping of rabbit paws crossing the bridge above them.

Judy sat still in the creek, Nick beside her, washing off in the cool water running through the stream.

Their clothes were soaked but it was probably better than being beaten with blunt objects by a crowd of racist teenagers.

It wasn't until after they were sure the other rabbits had all crossed the bridge that either one of them said a word.

"Thanks, Carrots."

The rabbit held out her paw to help the fox back up onto the creek bank and out of the flowing water.

"Don't mention it. Don't… Don't ever mention it Nick…"

"Judy…"

"Nick… I'm so sorry" her eyes were almost as red as his at this point.

"I'm so-"

The fox scooped the rabbit up into his arms, placing his chin on her head.

Wrapped in the cold blanket of night, it was nice to have a friend to keep you warm.

"You're the best friend I could ever hope to find here, you don't need to apologize."

…

"One of these days it's going to be my job to track down people like Jack. Mammals that hurt other mammals."

The rabbit kicked her feet in the running stream.

"Yeah? How are you going to do that? You planning on becoming a copper or something?"

"Yup"

There was a breathy pause.

"Laugh it up foxy."

"I'm not laughing fluff."

She turned to face him, picking her feet up out of the stream.

"You saved me today, we could use more cops like you."

He rubbed his toes on a stone embedded in the little river, letting the running water cool him off still.

The rabbit scooted in a little closer to the fox, watching his foot as it played in the stream.

"Nick?" she turned her face upwards to look at him.

He looked down to her.

Propping herself up on her paws she struggled to kiss him gently, barely managing before slumping back to the ground.

He gingerly placed his arm around her and pulled her even closer.

The two talked late into the night, a warm summer morning threatening to overtake Bunnyburrow in just a few hours.


	2. How to start the Summer

_**Authors Note: Well, I just don't what to say!**_

 _ **This story was originally written in the span of a few hours as a nice little gift to a friend. When I wrote this first chapter, I had no intention of continuing it in any way, shape or form. Regardless, between , Archive of Our own and Tumblr, I've received a surplus of requests to continue, so I thought I'd add a chapter or two.**_

 _ **Thanks for the support, and don't forget to leave a review and tell me what you think! This chapters a little different from it's predecessor...**_

 _ **...**_

"Come on."

"Let's go."

"If we can make it to my parent's farm, we can wait this whole thing out."

The fox groggily raised an arm to shield his vision from the sunlight, his eyes fluttering between open and shut as he tried to sit up. Judy's paw, which had previously been shaking him awake, was now brushing off the back of his head, delicately picking off the leaves and twigs that had found themselves tangled in his matted fur.

"Did we sleep out here?" the fox asked, cautiously peeking out from under his arm at the morning sun before retreating back to the shade it provided.

"Yup." The little rabbit continued to ruffle his fur clean, picking out the last bits of sticks and dirt. "But we probably shouldn't stick around." She rose to her feet, attempting to pull him up by the underside of his arm. "If we stay here any longer Jack's friends are going to find us."

The fox pushed himself up, the rabbit doing very little to actually help him stand.

"They're your friends too, ya know."

"No."

Cautiously, Judy made her way back up the bank of the creak and into the woods which surrounded the traveling stream they had camped out next to.

"If I'd have known what they were capable of, I would have never associated with them." She turned to back to look at the fox, watching him as he lazily followed after her. "You know that, right Nick?"

The fox paused for a moment, still struggling to make his way up the bank. Looking up at the bunny, he sheepishly nodded before resuming his attempt at scrambling up the steep hill that formed a little ways from the green creek water's edge, prompting the rabbit to help him up. Judy quickly made her way back to the edge of the woods, gesturing for the fox to follow, to which he sluggishly complied. As she pushed her way into the depths of the mass of trees; the bunny brushed a single, low hanging branch aside, allowing it to swing back and swat the absent minded fox following her.

…

"So, are we there yet?" Nick looked down at the rabbit walking beside him as he spoke.

"Does it look like we're 'there yet', slick?" Judy swung her arms out in a wide arc in front of them as they walked, drawing the fox's attention to the long dirt road they were currently plodding down.

"Uh"

"No! No we are not there yet. We are about as _there_ as we were five minutes ago. _Ya know, five minutes ago?_ When you _first asked_?!" the rabbit hollered in frustration, the angry stamping of her feet kicking up a dust cloud as the two continued there laid back pace down the road.

"So, how 'there' is that, exactly?"

" _Not very!_ "

As the little bunny continued to shout at him, Nick couldn't help but think she was sort of cute. Not that he would ever admit it. The Last time he had called a bunny cute, the rabbit made sure it would indeed be _the last time_.

"We passed my bus stop a while ago, and you take the same bus as me…" the vulpine looked back as he slogged down the path, "How far do you walk to the bus stop every day?" the fox inquired, waving the dirt now floating in the air away from his open mouth, trying his hardest not to inhale the storm his rabbit companion kicked up.

"It's just a mile or two"

"A Mile or two?" the fox stared down at the rabbit again, his eyes widening in awe and a little bit of sympathy. "Well, no wonder your legs are so ripped!" He stopped for a moment, only to reach down and playfully grope at her well-built leg.

Judy responded with a gentle swat to his paw. " _These_ , my friend, are the result of a healthy diet and rigorous exercise routine, not walking a little every day." she explained, patting the muscular leg before starting to walk again.

"A little? Carrots, you walk more than I do in a week."

"Aren't you required to run the mile once a week for gym?" she smiled as she spoke, raising an eyebrow accusingly.

" _Ha!_ Like I would actually _run_ the mile. I'm only half way done by the time the period ends most days!"

"Well, at least you won't be running then."

The pair stopped, their hearts doing the same. Slowly, and with great apprehension, the two languidly turned around to meet the all-too familiar voice.

"It's kinda unfortunate, ya know? Might've made for some fun." Charlie spoke calmly, a sheep and another rabbit flanking him on either side.

"You two are pretty good at hiding. You should have stuck to that." As the male rabbit spoke, the sheep strolled over to the pair, the shorter bunny accomplice making his way around the back of them. Two fluffy little rabbits and a cuddly sheep had decided that, against all logic, they've cornered a fox.

"Back off asshole, we all know you don't have the guts to actually do anything." Nick folded his arms across his chest as he spoke to the sheep who was inching uncomfortably close now.

The sheep took a stopped his advance and threw his head back, laughing obnoxiously loud. With a jerk he wound his hoof back and sucker punched the vulpine in the stomach, gritting his teeth in anger.

Nick knelt to the ground, winded. Maybe it wasn't in his best interest to insult the kid who looks like he's been the playground bully for his entire academic career. Without missing a beat, Judy swung back, striking the ram in the gut. Apparently, the little sheep couldn't take what he could dish out, stumbling backwards as he writhed in pain. The fox couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy as he wiggled on the floor, retching as he tried to inhale another breath. As Nick warily stood up again, he turned back to find the shorter male bunny sprinting off into the distance.

"Hey!? _Hey_! Get back here you _turn-tail_!" Charlie called out to the other rabbit. If his friend had heard the screams, he didn't react, he took to the hills. With his only support now lying on the floor in pain, Charlie was left staring at the couple, a prolonged quietude hanging in the air as Judy silently dared him to try something.

"Ok…" Judy rubbed her temples as she spoke, "If you leave us alone, we _won't_ beat your ass."

The other rabbit sneered at her before turning around, walking in the opposite direction, leaving the sheep on the ground.

"Sweet Cheese and crackers," The female bunny exhaled as they turned around and went on their way, ignoring the sheep lying in the dirt. ", you good?"

"How could I not be good? I've got my guardian angel here, don't I?" the fox replied, grinning with his teeth as he wrapped his arm around the rabbit's shoulder.

"We're getting close though, right?"

…

 _Knock Knock Knock_

"Mom!"

 _Knock Knock Knock_

" _Mom!?_ "

A fox and a bunny stood side by side on the Hopps family porch, impatiently waiting for someone to come and let them in.

"Mom, we've been walking in the heat for several hours now and I would _really_ like to sit down!"

Nick smiled as he heard frantic steps plodding over to the door, whoever was on the other side of those walls must have bumped into every solid object in the house during their mad dash for the entrance.

"Judy? Judy!?"

"Yeah Mom, still out here."

"Judy! Where have you been?" The mother rabbit hurriedly threw open the door, knocking the fox on the snout as it swung by.

Judy, having taken a step back a moment ago, raised up a single paw and twiddled its digits.

"It's been a crazy two days, I'll tell you all about when we get inside- _can we please get inside!?"_

The mother rabbit stood dumbfounded on the other side of the door threshold. She gaped at Nick, mouth open, with a sort of nervous, yet intrigued gaze.

"Whose the friend?"

"Mom, Nick Wilde, friend from school. Nick, Bonnie Hopps, my dearest mother; who will not let us in the house despite the fact that I can literally feel the sun singing my fur; _Let us in please_!" Judy let the introduction quickly pour out of her mouth.

Bonnie stepped aside, waving the teens into her home. Before she closed the door again, she peaked her head outside and looked both ways, cautiously dragging the heavy piece of wood shut.

…

"Nic- Nice to meet you…Nick?"

"Yes! Yes it is so nice to meet you! Thank you for the tea by the way." The fox shook her hand amiably before gingerly lifting the cup to his mouth to drink again. "It was- It was a long walk, that's for sure." He turned to Judy as he spoke, the little rabbit still eagerly drinking down her beverage.

"Yeah, and it wasn't made any shorter by your near constant complaining." Judy sat the cup down on the coaster for a moment, just enough time to speak and smile warmly at her fox.

Nick took a moment to admire the interior design of his friend's house. It wasn't that bad, certainly a lot nicer than his own little burrow. The carrot decorations didn't exactly fit the rest of the décor, having a definite Rococo influence to it, but who was he to judge?

"So…Why didn't you come home yesterday Jude?"

The question forced the younger rabbit to set the tea cup down, it was obvious that what she was about to say was serious. Besides, she had already gulped down the contents of the porcelain cup.

"Well, I told you about Jack's party, right? The one that was supposed to happen at his burrow?"

Bonnie nodded quickly, attentively placing her paws in her lap and leaning in slightly, eager to hear her daughter's explanation.

"Well, Nick and I went."

"You spent the entire night partying?"

"Mom, the kids attacked Nick. Because he is a fox. Can you imagine that?"

Bonnie looked at the fox anxiously, turning her eyes back to her daughter.

"So… you guys just want to stay here till things cool off?"

"Please?" Nick interjected.

"That's all?" she asked again, making sure.

The fox nodded reassuringly.

"Oh…Yeah, sure that's fine. I was just afraid that when you brought the fella over you-"

"Hey Bonnie! Judy get back yet-"an older rabbit walked through the door, clearly bewildered by the sight of a fox on his couch.

"Hey… dad." The youngest of the rabbits in the room spoke meekly, causing Nick to glance at her before returning his gaze to the new bunny, trying to maintain respectful eye contact.

"Hi, Stu Hopps" Judy's father held out a dirt-caked paw, which Nick quickly shook, not wanting to keep the mammal waiting.

"Nick, Nick Wilde. Nice to meet you sir, I'm a friend of Judy's."

Stu didn't say a word, just nodded understandingly while looking at his feet.

Nobody wanted to bring up the elephant in the room.

"Uh, if you guys will excuse me, I need to use the bathroom." The fox rose a finger in the air, trying to escape the awkward encounter.

"Down the hall, to your left." Bonnie told him, eyes staring down at her paws, too uncomfortable to look at anyone else right now.

Without another word Nick got up and made his way down the hall, his frizzy tail waving side to side as he walked.

…

The bunny family sat in silence, the strained air only be cut through by the occasional clearing of ones throat.

 _Knock Knock Knock_

"Uh, I've got it." Stu quickly rose from the couch, having taken Nicks spot, and opened the nearby door.

"Jack, come on in! Nice to see a friendly face for once."

Judy sunk into her seat in horror. As the white jackrabbit made his way inside, his eyes widened in surprise.

"Judy, oh thank god you're here! I was afraid that when the fox ran off with you-"

"When he what?" Bonnie interrupted.

"That Nick Wilde character! I thought you were a goner when he dragged you away by your neck, but Charlie said he saw him taking you down the path to your house."

"I-"the younger rabbit was caught off guard. "No-"

"Judy, what is going on?" her mother asked.

"Take a seat Jack." Stu ordered.

"The police probably wouldn't think to look for him here," Jack explained as he took his seat, lifting Nick's teacup off of the pallet it was resting on. "Seems to me that it would be best place to lie low for a while." He continued, sipping up the last of the fox's drink.

" _He's here right now_ " Stu stated, earning a look of mock surprise from the jackrabbit.

" _No…_ What are we going to do?" Jack asked, turning to Judy. He knew as well as she did that no matter what she said, her father was going to storm that bathroom any minute now and yank Nick out the door by the scruff of his neck.

 _Unless…_

Stu paced around the room, his paws clenched tight. "That's it, I'm dragging that fox out of here. There's going to be _hell_ to pay" he hissed through his teeth. The irate bunny rolled his sleeves up and dusted his hands off on his already dirty overalls.

"Wait!" Judy exclaimed. "I- I uh… I can go get him."

"Absolutely not!" Jack and her mother shouted in unison.

"If he sees you coming," she turned to her father, "He'll know something's up. He won't expect anything if I go."

"I don't think that's a very good-" Jack began, but was hushed by Mr. Hopps.

"Wait, she might have a point…" Stu explained, raising his paw to the jackrabbit. "Don't do anything stupid, just… lead him out into the living room. I'll take care of it from there."

Judy nodded slowly before getting up, looking Jack in the eye before wandering down the hall.

…

Nick took a pawful of water and brought it up to his muzzle, drizzling it across his face. Who would have thought Bunnyburrow could get _this_ hot in the summer time? He gently brushed the fur on his head back, admiring his reflection in the mirror. He ran his claws through his fur claws several times, styling it every which way.

The doorknob rattled vigorously.

"Occupado" the fox explained in a sing-song voice, not content with his appearance just yet.

It rattled again.

"I said: Occupied" this time, he was clearly a little irritated. Were these rabbits all raised in a barn or something?

 _Animals, raised in a barn. Spare me the thought._

Whoever was on the other side of the door was now pulling on it gently, trying to see if it would tug open despite being locked.

"Hold on! _Gawlee_!" he continued messing with his fur, rolling his eyes at his own reflection.

Judy looked down the hall into the living room, the three other bunnies were talking amongst themselves, Jack no doubt feeding them another line of bullshit, maybe two. As quietly as she could, she opened the hallway closet and took out the master key to all rooms in the house. She quickly unlocked the bathroom door and rushed in, closing it behind her.

"Carrots! _What the fu_ -"

"Shhhhh"

"Judy!"

" _Shhhh!"_

 _"Judy!"_

 _"Nick what the hell!? What part of_ 'shh' _do you not understand?!"_ the rabbit gritted her teeth as she spoke in a harsh whisper.

"Okay! Okay!" Nick shouted in the same hushed tone Judy spoke in. "Can you tell me why you thought it was ok for you to barge in on me? I was using the bathroom."

"Nick, you've been gone for 30 minutes." The fox rolled his eyes at the rabbit. "I have my reasons, rabbit."

"Whatever- I- _I don't care_! Look, I'll explain in a moment, just follow me." Judy assured him, still speaking quietly. "And please, stop being so difficult." She climbed up on top of the toilet tank and began removing the wire mesh that covered the nearby window.

"Ok." Nick threw his paws up in the air and crossed his eyes, mouthing the words " _my god_ ", clearly fed up with the situation.

When the rabbit finally got the window mesh off, she hurriedly scuttled out of the now unobstructed opening.

"Come on! We don't have much time."

Nick landed on his snout as he climbed out the window, not nearly as graceful as the rabbit before him.

"I swear to god carrots, there better be a reason for this-"

Not letting the fox finish, she took him by the paw and led him out into the corn field, quickly guiding him through the dense forest of vegetable stalks.

…

"Ok, so like… What is going on?" the fox stopped to catch his breath, finally on the other side of the field.

"Jack found us, I had to sneak you out."

"How!?"

"I think Charlie tipped him off."

The two shared a moment of silence.

"You should have beat his ass" Nick pointed out.

"I can't just pummel someone who didn't attack me first."

"Why not?" the fox crossed his arms.

"Because it wouldn't be the just thing to do."

The vulpine scoffed before starting to walk again. "Oh right, cop gotcha."

"C'mon Nick, you know I take this sort of thing seriously." The Rabbit gently hip checked the fox as she walked alongside him. Once he finished bouncing back, she leaned into him, making him support her weight as they walked.

He put his arm around her holding her a little closer.

"We do need more police out there like you."

"What do you mean?" she asked, looking up at the taller mammal.

"When I lived in the city, a lot of 'em wouldn't bother to help a fox like me…"

"Nick…"

The vulpine stroked the bunnies ears back, smiling as they walked further away from the Hopps plantation.

"Nick! You're bleeding!"

Raising his paw to his nose, the fox could make out the red tinge of blood on his dark paw pads, mixing in with his already red fur.

"Oh… yeah I landed on my snozz when we were escaping through the window."

"Sit down for a second."

"Nah, I'm good, let's keep walking."

"C'mon, just sit down. Stop acting like you're such a tough guy scruff, you aren't fooling me."

Nick planted himself down on a nearby tree stump, the rabbit hopping up on his lap once he got himself situated.

"Fine, if anyone knows me better than I know myself, it's you. You've been my best friend for, what? A few months? I do believe that's a new record!"

Ignoring the fox's sardonic comments, Judy examined his nose, checking it from all angles, her feet happily dangling off of his lap as she worked.

"Ok, give it to me straight doc, what's your diagnosis?"

The rabbit simply shrugged. "Don't know, probably not fatal." She lifted her feet up onto his lap and wrapped her arms around her knees, becoming a little ball on top of him. "Guess it wouldn't matter anyways, we can't really get you anything for it, can we?"

The two sat together for a spell, an afternoon breeze taking with it leaves and other loose shrubbery as it blew past them. The pair relished the refreshing moment.

"He called the cops Nick." Judy said, rubbing her paws together.

"Oh…"

"Everyone thinks you kidnapped me." She looked down at her feet as she spoke, ashamed. "And… I played along."

"Yeah?"

"I had to do something to get us out of there." She looked up at him, caressing his muzzle tenderly. "I'm sorry."

A few minutes of silence passed them by, and yet it felt like an eternity.

"What are we going to do?" the fox asked.

"We can walk over to the train station, catch a ride out to the main city."

"The city isn't all it's cracked up to be."

"It's a start." The bunny lulled her head back against his chest.

"We're too young to just up and run away from home, Judith."

"I just want to leave this shithole."

…

"Ugh! My feet are blistering!" the rabbit stopped to lift up her foot to examine its underside, red and puffy.

"Well look who is complaining now?" Nick taunted, scooping her up in his arms only to place her on his shoulders.

"Look, us bunnies don't have paw pads. You've got an unfair advantage."

"Oh, sure. When you complain its justified, but when I complain I'm just being childish, is that what you'd have me believe?" The fox said, tilting his head upward to look at the rabbit currently mounted on top of him.

"Uh, yep?" she replied, kissing the nose now only inches from her face.

"No dice, fluff."

"You're killing me scruff."

"No, but I'll be killing you if you make us miss our train ride."

"We won't make it while it's still daylight out, we can just catch one of the night trains."

"I guess…I've never been on a high speed train at night, think it'll be cool?" The fox spoke, still looking up at his current passenger.

"I've never been on a train, period." The bunny laughed.

…

The difference between walking the long, dirty roads of Bunnyburrow during the day as opposed to at night was astonishing. The two mammals were dog tired, but they were almost there. Mere meters away sat the train station. The light emanating from the nearby diner, which travelers are prone to wait in; spilled out into the night, illuminating a nearby section of the tracks.

Nick whistled, obviously impressed. "Well, we made it."

"Yeah"

"Are we really doing this?"

Judy looked up at her companion, her mouth forming a bitter sweet smile as she gently nodded her head.

"Ok, let's go get the tickets then."

…

The two sat in a booth at the diner, staring at the little stubs they held in their paws.

"12:30, we have an hour." The rabbit observed, turning the piece of paper over and over again in her palm.

"Well, I should probably let my mom know that I won't be coming home then."

"Nick…" she raised a paw to stop him.

"Are you sure you want to do this… I don't want to make you do anything-"

"I don't really have a choice, the cops are after me. I'm a fox on the run, fluff. I'm going with you whether you want me too or not." And with that, he walked out of the diner to the nearby phone booth.

 _Of course She wanted him._

…

The fox rubbed his paws together, trying to warm them up. The cool night air was the complete opposite of what they had been experiencing hours ago, and he was now realizing that he took the heat for granted. He carefully plucked a few coins from his pocket and let them slide into the coin slot.

Eventually, he got his mother on the other line.

"Hey Ma, I know you must've heard by now. Before you ask, no, it isn't true. I just need to get away for a little while. I'm safe." He paused for a moment, he could hear heavy breathing on the other end of the line. "You hear that ma? I'm fine. Judy and I are at the train station now, but I'll be-"

" _Nick!"_ he was horrified by the way she shrieked out his name.

" _The police are here Nick!_ "

" _Oh god! Oh God I'm so sorry Nick!"_

The fox let the phone hang from its cable, his mother still frantically speaking as he walked back into the diner.

…

"Hey"

"Hey" the rabbit greeted the fox.

"How'd it go?"

"Judy"

"Huh?" she was surprised to hear him using her actual name.

"What time is it? Like, how long till the train arrives?"

The rabbit pulled out her phone to check. "9:45, we killed like 15 minutes…."

"…Why?"

"Judy, they know we're here."

The bunny didn't say a word her eyes widening in a mix of horror and resignation. Slowly, she accepted defeat and allowed her head to sink to the table.

"Ok, I guess that's it." The rabbit's breathing was unsteady, and the fox knew she was almost on the verge of tears. " _Nick?_ "

"Yeah…Judy?"

"Do you think they'll lock you away for long?"

The young fox sighed heavily, reaching across the table which separated them so that he could tenderly take her shivering paw in his own. As he held it, he stroked it tenderly, deep in thought. The rabbit looked up from the table at him.

"I... I abducted you, didn't I?" he smiled awkwardly, his eyes watering. "I don't think- don't think they take too kindly to a fox pulling that kinda shit round…here…carrots." He stuttered as he spoke, the urge to cry building up in his throat. The rabbit sunk back down onto the table, leaving her paw in her friends hand. The fox continued to gently stroke her comparatively small paw, holding it tight in his own, trying his best to assuage the rabbit's quiet, gross sobs.

Trying to hold back his own.

Slowly at first; and without warning, the fox began chuckling to himself, eventually coercing the bunny to join in.

"We probably wouldn't have made it that far, they would have caught up with us eventually."

"Yeah…"

The two animals smiled at each other, tears now dripping down their respective chins. Judy rested her head in her free palm, staring off into her fox's eyes.

" _Yeah…_ "

The scenery at the station was nice, the white light of the diner still illuminating the surrounding area outside, revealing faint silhouettes of insects hopping along the ground outside the window. A tumble weed lazily rolled past the diner window, free in the cool summer breeze. But, the view from her seat, right across the table from her, the one that was currently holding her paw-

It was just a little prettier.

Pretty enough that she was able to pretend that, at least for that moment, the red and blue beams emanating from the tops of the police cruisers weren't encroaching upon them in the distance.


	3. A Martyr for A Cause

A young rabbit sat in the back of a police cruiser; her glossy, hopeless eyes peering out the window at the dusty trail they were driving down, the dirt of the road bathed in the garish red and blue lights spouting from the top of the vehicle. She ebbed in and out of consciousness, the hopeless dreariness of her circumstances drawing her into a dream like trance before blaring sirens pulled her back into reality.

BunnyBurrow

In all its scenic grandeur- its pastoral setting was often written about in romance novels penned by city dwellers – the district was in reality as gritty and unsentimental a place one could hope to find. From Judy's perspective, the burrows weren't a part of Zootopia meant to be romanticized. They were an unintentionally wicked place, festering with speciesism.

The kindly folk of the burrows, in all of their good will towards one another, could never seem to find it in themselves to love an outsider. Sure, they wouldn't spit in a predator's face. They would politely shake their paw, all the while stealing disapproving glares from a safe distance.

They were always waiting.

Waiting for something that would prove them right. That those _chompers_ weren't to be trusted.

"Hey, Kid!" Judy was drawn back into reality again by a sound that somehow grated against her ears more than the police sirens.

"Hey, you awake back there?" the officer tilted his rear view mirror to get a better look at the teen.

Judy pulled the shock blanket currently wrapped around her tiny body a little tighter. "Yeah?"

"Mind telling us what it was like? Seeing as _we did_ just save you and all" the driver chuckled to himself before nudging his partner slightly, a single paw on the steering wheel. The rabbit officer riding shotgun simply laughed at his buddies offhanded comment.

"What-What was…um…about what was it….what it was like?" Judy struggled to speak, her mind still swimming after the events of the night.

"You know, being kidnapped by that tod?" the driver insisted.

"I wasn't kidnapped."

Ignoring the continuous wail the siren provided, the car became horribly silent.

"You think-" the bunny in the passenger seat started, turning to look at his partner.

"Yeah, yeah…" the driver spoke as if he already knew what his friend was going to say.

"Heard about it happening a few times in the city on the news; don't get many kidnappings around here."

"Yeah…" driver replied again, sucking air through his teeth.

The rabbits in the front continued talking amongst themselves, as if the younger bunny in the back ceased to exist entirely. Judy sunk further back into her seat.

"Stockholms, right?" the officer in the passenger seat piped up again.

"Mhm, happens to hostages sometimes. Rare but it happens," the driver took a swig from his coffee cup sitting in his cupholder, "but I'm willing to bet _my_ fluffy ass that this younger generation-" he nodded back to the rabbit seated behind them, "- are a bit more, what's the word… ' _susceptible_ ' to it. Kids these days don't know what they want as it is! Pile on a traumatic experience, and it's no wonder they start empathizing with their captor!"

The officer in the passenger turned back to look at Judy affectionately, but something in his eyes told her that he didn't care as much as he let on. "Feel real sorry for ya, darlin. Gonna get you fixed in no time, ya hear?"

She stared back at him thoughtlessly, her eyes unable to betray the irate emotions running amok inside of her now. The only thing keeping her from exploding at the officer right now was the numb feeling that worked its way up her body, insidiously finding its home in her muscles, cursing her bones with a chilly grip as it bore into her head.

Of course, the fact that they wouldn't listen to her regardless probably factored into her resignation as well.

 _Let them think what they want._

"But I knew them foxes were trouble! Don't you remember that one fox? Grey was his family name, don't remember what they called him, but the kids been going to group therapy sessions since his middle school days!" the driver started again.

"You ain't never heard of a rabbit going to one of those." His partner spat back.

" _Nuh-uh,_ you _ain't never heard of that_ , so why do they keep letting em into the burrows?" the officer rose a paw off of the steering wheel, waving it in the air in indignation.

" _That's_ what I've been sayin."

…

Two rabbits walked side by side down the dirt path of the burrows, the trail to town bustling despite it being almost midnight now. The younger bunny followed slightly behind the chalky white jackrabbit leading the way, fumbling around with his phone. The rabbit in lead held his nose up high, his hands in his pockets. It looked like he hadn't a care in the world, but nothing could be further from the truth.

"Ay, yeah Jack, Dewey says they got em. The coppers are taking them to town square now." The younger rabbit crammed his phone back into his coat pocket, jogging to catch up to his friend.

"Mmm…" the white rabbit continued walking down the path, not bothering to look back at his companion.

"This ended up working out surprisingly well, don't you think?" the younger rabbit asked, now walking side by side with Jack.

"Mhm" the other rabbit continued walking.

"Hey, something the matter?" the concerned bunny asked, punching his buddies shoulder gently.

"Charlie!" Jack pushed his friend back, not in the mood to be touched. "I'm thinking! _Can it_ will ya?"

"Ok! Geez louise man!"

The rabbits continued around the corner, the town square in sight. The area was starting to fill up, and rather quickly. Neither of the bunnies could recall a gathering of this size in recent memory. The vegetable fair itself didn't attract this meaning mammals!

"Jack…"

"What!? What do you want?" the jackrabbit scowled at his friend, his train of thought broken again.

"What's your deal tonight? You were fine when we were hangin' with the fellas earlier, something's got you down."

The white rabbit sighed, rubbing his arm his arm tenderly under his coat sleeve. The two found an empty bench and decided to take it before someone else did.

"I've just got a weird feeling about this, man." the rabbit exhaled while speaking, leaning back on the bench in exasperation.

"Wait, what's there to feel weird about, we've got all our aces in the hole!" the other bunny sat up as he spoke.

"Man, just-"

"Jack, bro. Chill out-"

"Do you know how far they're going with this tonight?" Jack's voice was strained, he clearly wasn't in the mood to argue.

But he would.

"Does it matter?"

"Well, ki-"

"Look" Charlie clasped his paws together in front of his face and took a moment to breathe on them before rubbing them together in an attempt to warm up. "You're the one who called Officer Peabody up and told him to go on a fox hunt. If there's one guy who _can't_ back out of this, it's _you_." the rabbit emphasized his point by poking his friend in the sternum.

"Ok! I get it…" Jack leaned against the back rest again, rubbing his arm nervously.

"You know I won't let you do anything stupid, right?" Charlie asked, trying to make himself comfortable sitting on the cold wood of the bench.

"Right…" Jack agreed, eyes narrowing as he slipped back into deep thought. "Wait, hey!" He nudged his companion, "I think they're bringing em in now!" he said, pointing at the police cruiser in the distance.

Both rabbits hopped off the bench and blended into the crowd, the mass of mammals having only grown larger since they had last bothered to look.

…

The closer the cruiser had come to the center of the town, the slower the ride became. It looked like everybody in the surrounding area had gathered to the town square. If Judy hadn't known any better, she would dare say that all of bunnyburrow had left their homes to rubber neck tonight. Amidst the radiating waves of raving rabbits - raging at whoever was currently in the middle of the square- stood the odd panther, cougar or sheep, not bunnies, but curious all the same.

Whatever had them worked up, it was apparently egregious enough to form a mob.

Judy had a terrible feeling. Deep down, she knew exactly why they all gathered here tonight. Rocks, rope and tree branches in their paws. Each rabbit's face baring a look of scorn, their anger fully justified in their own eyes.

She thought she saw Jack amongst the mob.

All of her fears were confirmed the moment she stepped out of the police car, tugging her blanket around herself again as the cold summer air swallowed her whole again. In the middle of the square stood a red fox, collared to the wild oak tree that stood as the centerpiece for the town. On his face, Nick wore a cold expression, but not one of anger or fear. For the first time since she met him, Judy read in his eyes a feeling of understanding. As if he already knew what his fate was.

As if he knew what he was destined to become since the day his train rolled into Bunnyburrow.

Without sparing her a look - understandably, as there was no way he could see her face in the crowd of look-alikes currently swarming him - the fox allowed his eyelids to droop, accepting his destiny with open arms. Or at least they would be open had two of the burliest police officers Judy had ever seen maintaining a tight, unapologetic grip on each of them.

"Stay with us kid, we won't let him hurt you." the rabbit who had driven her into town spoke, not even taking the time to look at her, instead turning away to ogle the horrible site in front of them.

She waited a spell. Holding her breath as she stared at the back of the heads of the two officers, their eyes still trained on the spectacle unfolding before them.

Without a word, her delicate feet- still blistered and bruised from the long walks she had enjoyed earlier that day- carried her off into the middle of the crowd.

…

"Why'd you do it?" an elderly rabbit asked the fox, still standing in the town square.

"I didn't do anything wrong" was Nick's only reply, his visage worn.

"I can't help you son if you don't tell me."

The fox looked out at the crowd, each and every one of them bellowing about how he needs to be "put to justice", all of them having a clear and concentrated vision of justice in each of their minds.

"To be honest sir, I don't think you could help me if you wanted to." As the fox spoke, the corners of his lips turned up into a jeering smile. No, they only wanted a show. The last two days had been more than enough of a pageant for the fox. He lowered his gaze to the floor as he thought.

Growing up in the city, he had friends. Animals who would come and go every now and then. Girlfriends who would fade in and out of his life, much like anyone else might experience. Living in the city, experiencing everything he had; it didn't come close to what transpired over the days prior to his current situation. Once again he found himself with friends, people who _apparently_ cared about him. Unsurprisingly, they didn't, and when he found himself on the outside again; taunted, hissed at, jibed, he wasn't as surprised as one would expect.

The actual moment of blissful revelation didn't come until a certain bunny rabbit, despite her jeering peers, stood up for him. She had protected him. Maybe she even loved him a little? Maybe she didn't. Maybe it's all for the best that any stain Nicholas Wilde was prone to leave on the world is washed away after tonight. What would they have done had they gone to the city anyways? Had they avoided capture? For all he knew, the two would be sick of one another in weeks.

Nick had always hated those old, saccharine romance novels his mother had taken up months after his father had passed away, but he had to admit, the idea that his torch would be snuffed out before he ever had the chance to ruin a relationship with the most gorgeous rabbit he had ever laid eyes on fit into one too poetically to leave unappreciated.

As the fox raised his gaze, his eyes met with one amethyst pair that he actually recognized.

…

It looked like - if only for a moment- Nick had found her in the crowd, though Judy knew that was impossible. She was just another face in the storm of rabbits. She swam through the tumultuous sea of bunnies, trying her hardest to get closer to the old oak tree in the center of the town. She pushed, ignoring the annoyed comments from the nosey rabbits engulfing her. Deeper, deeper and deeper still she swam, holding her breath as she propelled herself between aggravated mammals. It wasn't until she was met with the back of one mammal in particular that she stopped her desperate struggle.

It was a little hard to tell with the poorly crafted street lamps and the silvery moon beams shining down on the townspeople acting as her only form of light, but the fox standing before her looked familiar. Her back to the little rabbit, Judy could still recognize the curvy figure in front of her.

The violet dress she wore, despite looking worn and sweaty.

The bonnet that was tied snugly at her chin, despite being slightly disheveled.

The clawed paws that writhed together as she held them behind her back, despite the stoic appearance of the rest of her stance.

She'd seen this women before, the day she got off the bus with Nick. The fox had opened the door for the two and introduced herself, briefly. It's unlikely that she even remembered the bunny.

But Judy remembered her.

"Mrs. Wilde?" Judy spoke in a loud whisper as she joined the woman side by side. Both girls staring at the fox currently being paraded around.

Without so much as looking at the rabbit, Nick's mother spoke: "I killed him."

Judy's eyes widened in horror for the first time in the last hour, the mother's dismal comment sobering the bunny rabbit from her shocked state.

"They told me to answer the phone, and I did. They had come in early that afternoon and told me they were going to wait for a call from him. That I didn't have a choice in the matter." As she spoke, the woman continued to eye her son longingly. "If I refused to help, I would be charged as an accomplice."

Judy nearly spoke, but choked instead. Her dry, itchy throat catching her before she was able to say anything.

"It didn't really matter - if I'm telling the truth - when I heard the phone ring I picked it up as quickly as possible. If it was him, I knew what it meant. But, I wanted to hear his voice again. I didn't think he would rush to tell me where he was." Judy felt her heart break as the mother fox spoke, the expressionless look on the women's face adding a macabre tone to her words. "I shouldn't have answered. I- _killed_ -him." The vixen took time to emphasize each syllable of every word in her final sentence.

"No" Judy found it in herself to finally speak, turning her stare back to Nick again, same as Mrs. Wilde had.

"No?"

"No."

"What do you mean 'no'?"

Her gaze still trained on the fox in the center of the town, the bunny spoke clearly and deliberately. "I killed him."

There was a shared silence between the fox and the rabbit.

"…Judy, right?"

"Yes Ma'am."

The mother let out an aggravated sigh. For a moment, she was afraid that the older women would kill her right then and there.

"Why'd you do it?" the fox spoke again, evidently deciding _not_ to tear the little rabbit's head clean off.

"I-I don't know." Judy explained, trying to maintain her resolute gaze at Nick while choking back her tears for the umpteenth time that night. "Jack- my old boyfriend- came into my house and told my parents that Nick kidnapped me," her tears felt notably warm as they ran down her wind-kissed, poised face, "Nick was in the bathroom, and I knew that my dad would have dragged him out given the chance. They always adored Jack… they would never have listened to me. They love me, but like anyone else in this town, they relished the thought that foxes were inherently evil. Why would they believe their delirious little daughter?"

Mrs. Wilde slowly exhaled through her nose.

"So I played along, I told them I would go get Nick. I explained that he wouldn't see it coming if I went in first." The rabbit swallowed hard. "And," she paused for a moment, blinking her teary eyes enough to clear them so that she could keep her focus on Nick, "I took him and ran. I knew what would happen if we got caught. A bunny admitting to her parents that she was kidnapped by a fox wouldn't look good, so we-" she threw her paws up into the air as she spoke, her voice cracking, the carefully chosen words barely audible over her own sickly sobs. "-we just weren't going to get caught, simple as that." She inhaled deeply, sending an intense shiver through her small, lithe body. "So yeah, I know…I know. I know, I know, _I know_ it was stupid, I just couldn't see any other way out." As she finished her story she brought her paws to her face, wiping the streaming tears from her eyes.

A fox's paw found its way to her pack, massaging the quaking bunny with the gentle touch only a mother could give.

"I didn't mean _that_." Mrs. Wilde had finally torn her gaze from her son, now looking down at the sobbing rabbit. "I want to know why you went with him in the first place."

"…He's a friend…" Judy held her stare on Nick still, her words pouring from her mouth like a prayer as she spoke. "and, I think I love him."

The mother fox continued to caress the rabbits back. "But why did you guys run away?"

"Ni-Nick…" Judy started, "Nick was being bullied. I didn't know what people were capable of. I knew the rabbits of Bunnyburrow - as an unspoken rule - didn't like foxes, but I didn't know…"

"You 'didn't know what they were capable of'…" Mrs. Wilde repeated the rabbit's words back to her, almost as if they reflected a piece of the fox's own beliefs. The mother spoke her next few words gingerly, sobs of her own finally filling her own sentences. "I guess… you need to see bigotry with your own eyes… if you ever hope to open someone else's."

"Ma'am…" the rabbit spoke up again, almost interrupting the fox with her own abruptness, "Nick is more than a martyr for some cause."

…

The crowd only grew in size as the night went on, every new addition to the mob adding his or her voice to the constant babble. A series of bad choices culminated in a crisis here tonight, and to an outsider the angry rabbits- their faces orange and black due to the dim street lights- may look alien, or monstrous. What an outsider wouldn't be able to tell you, however, is just why it was that they were so angry. To tell you the truth, most of the bunnies themselves wouldn't be able to give you an actual answer.

They might tell you that the fox deserves what's coming to him.

"That wild animal kidnapped our Kin, no fox is going to mess with one of _our_ does…"

"Gosh… It- It's for the safety of _our_ own. I hate it as much as the next rabbit, but I can't ignore the fact that this kid is trouble…"

" _Our_ Zootopia would be better off if a fox went missing tonight…"

The heated phrases could be witnessed rising up from the horde of animals as if they were a single, massive breath; exhaled by the rabble of indignant mammals, mixing in with the raw nightly air enclosing them, warming their chilly bones.

All the while, the fox standing in the core of the mob was left thinking about what could have been. It didn't really matter, but since he would never find out, he let himself entertain the idea…

They would take the bullet train to the main city. Judy would rest her head in the crook of his arm as they sped off into the night, eventually lulled to sleep before they ever got there. Or maybe, the two would spend the entire ride pointing out the landmarks they shot past, playing an improvised game of _"I spy"_. Who would win? Neither of them of course! After the hell they went through getting on this train they would be too sleepy to remember what they had been "spying" in the first place, but it would be _pretty_ great regardless, Nick assured himself.

Eventually, their ride would come to an end, and, after Judy picked her jaw up off of the floor, Nick would take her sight sightseeing. They wouldn't have a place to live, so they would have all night to look around the city. You know, when the young fox lived there himself, no part of the city impressed him.

After his father died, and he ran away from home, Nick took some time to explore the urban, concrete jungle that is the downtown district. Once the bright flashing lights and bustling streets lost their inherent, awe inspiring charm, it became another pointless district. Most places become _petty_ and _dull_ when you lose somebody you love.

With Judy at his side, the city would spring to life again. They could go running through the central park together. Maybe they would visit a museum or two, or three…dozen. They might see if they could find a late night baseball game going on, and watch from under the bleachers like he must have over a hundred times when he was a lonely kit.

When they got tired he would lead her back to his old neighbourhood, and take her to the old bridge he would often hang out with his friends under. They would stay there for the night, chatting about everything they had done that day, all the trouble they escaped.

And then they would wake up and do it again.

And again.

And again.

Until, one day- inevitably, Nick assured himself- his bunny companion would get sick and tired of living on the streets. Sick and tired of his dumb jokes and crazy antics. Sick and tired of living a life other than the cozy one she used to have living on the country side, and she would leave him. She would go back home.

And, the city would become just as dull and petty as it had been all those years ago.

…

"Judy!" the familiar voice of a male rabbit called out to her amidst the crowd, its owner pushing through the mobbing mammals.

Her parents had found her.

"Judy, shouldn't you be with a police escort, or… or something?" Bonnie asked when the two parties finally met, still struggling to catch her breath.

"They're off enjoying tonight's festivities." The younger rabbit spoke scornfully, looking away from her parents and off at the fox in the center of the town. "I guess I was wrong, there really _are_ some things more important than doing your job when you're a police officer."

Her parents shared a concerned glance at one another before turning their attention back to their daughter. "But, why did you let him take you and run off? Why didn't you just call for help?" her mother started again.

" _I_ took _him_ and ran off, and I certainly didn't need _anyone's_ help." The little rabbit spat back at the two, head still facing towards the epicenter of all of the commotion.

"Judy… You don't actually-"

"I don't actually what?" Judy cut her father off in the middle of his sentence.

"You don't …" Stu hesitated as if the thought was too vile to be spoken aloud.

"Spit it out dad!"

"You don't sympathize with the fox, do you?" as the rabbit spoke.

Bonnie thought she saw that female fox who had been keeping Judy company twitch in discomfort at her husband's remark.

"Ma'am-" Bonnie raised an eyebrow and held her paw out to Mrs. Wilde.

"Yeah, I do actually! I feel a great deal of sympathy for an innocent mammal." Judy interrupted her mother.

"How can you sympathize with your kidnapper?" the father spat back.

"He didn't kidnap me!" Judy brought her paws up to her temples. It's biting her in the ass.

"Is that what he told you?" her mother chimed in, drawn back into the conversation.

"No- Mom- I… oh sweet cheese and crackers…." There wasn't an easy way out of this.

Before Judy could even begin to explain herself, a shudder made its way through the crowd. From what the little rabbit could tell, the entire mob was now pushing its way to the front, the yelling growing louder than it ever had been before.

They'd grown tired of waiting.

"Stop! Stop it!" Judy yelled, diving back into the sea of bunnies, Mrs. Wilde trying her hardest to catch up, unable to squeeze through the crowd like the little bunny had.

"Please!" Judy shouted again.

The horde couldn't hear the desperate plight. Their chorus of cries for justice were too deafening. Nobody paid any attention to the little rabbit, her voice driven away by the raging storm.

Hell, even if they could hear her, no one would listen anyways; the bunny knew this.

So when she finally reached the fox, she did the only thing she could.

…

It had happened without warning.

Nick wasn't sure who made the decision, but the moment he noticed the absence of the two burly rabbit paws on his arms, he knew he was in for a world of pain.

The first blow to his stomach knocked the wind out of him, one of the nearby rabbits had sucker punched him. Evidently, in the burrows, that's an open invitation for the rest of the mob to join in. Someone grabbed him by the collar and hurled him to the ground, allowing anyone close enough to strike him. Each time he tried to stand, paws would find their way around the chain currently linking him to the tree, yanking him back down to the ground.

The brutish paws that came crashing down with a painful _thump_ every time they beat against him _hurt_.

The tree branches that broke as they were bashed against his back _hurt_.

The rattling noise which rang out in his ears whenever his head was struck with a stone _hurt_.

The thought that he had saw his darling rabbit for the last time completely _maimed him_.

"Wait!" the fox heard a weepy voice call out, its owner standing in front of him with her arms stretched out. "You don't need to do this!"

"Move it, girl!"

"What are you doing!? Do you want to get yourself killed?"

"Get out of the way or you're next kid!"

Judy had stuck her neck out for him again. She was the one thing separating him from the hungry maw of a thousand angry bunny rabbits.

"If- if you- If you just let me explain, we can have this whole thing sorted out!" Judy stammered out, trying her hardest to sound elegant.

"Judy, what are you doing! Get out of there!" her parents had finally caught up.

"Mom, Dad its fine! We're going to get through thi-" Judy had turned to her parents, only to be met with a sharp stone to the head.

 _"No"_ the fox thought to himself. " _No, no…No! Judy!"_

Nick crawled as far as his collar would allow, barely reaching her. He scooped her up into his arms just as the tidal wave of bunnies crashed up against them again, holding her tight in a fetal position as he bore the onslaught.

"Judy _! Oh god…"_ the fox choked out sobs as he cradled the rabbit. The raging sea of angry mammals swallowing the two of them whole.

"You're killing him! Stop, _oh god stop_!" Nick's mother had finally reached the front of the crowd.

"Shut the _fuck up_." A male rabbit had grabbed her by the waist and hoisted the fox into the air, only to throw her to the ground with a horrifying _thump_.

"Wait!" Bonnie and Stu had called out in unison, their cries taken with them as they were forced back by the rest of the crowd.

…

"This is…" a jackrabbit spoke, turning to his friend.

"Yeah, it's pretty crazy isn't it, Jack?" the other rabbit wore a satisfied grin on his face as the two watched the ensuing riot.

"It wasn't ever supposed to go this far Charlie…" Jack replied.

"Well, I don't know what you were expecting." Charlie tore his eyes away from the action to give his friend a concerned look. "You aren't feeling for the fox, are ya?"

"Course not, but Judy's stuck in the middle of it now so-"

"So what?" Charlie shoved Jack slightly.

" _So_ I'm gonna go call this whole thing off-"Jack shoved the other rabbit back, almost walking out into the crowd before being pulled back by his companion.

The younger rabbit wrapped his paws around Jack's collar. "You can't take it back. Why don't you just sit back and enjoy the show?" he jostled the rabbit a little before slapping him gently on the face. "So, chill out, ok?"

Once released from his friends grip, Jack struck him in the jaw with a closed fist, leaving the other rabbit out cold, not bothering to look back as the crowd engulfed him.

…

"Guys! Hello!? Guys, there's been a _huge_ misunderstanding!" Jack shouted as he struggled to get to the front of the crowd. In the midst of a thousand other yelling voices, however, his own was nothing special.

"Hey!" he shouted again before being shoved to the ground. The rest of mob had gotten rowdy now, and fights were breaking out throughout the entire crowd. He got up again and brushed himself off, carefully making his way past the quarrelling rabbits.

"Hey, Yo! Officer Peabody! Over here!" Jack called out to one of the cops who had been assigned to Nick earlier.

"Jack, what's wrong?" the large rabbit asked.

"Man, am I glad to see _you_. Look, there's been a huge misunderstanding. Turns out the fox didn't kidnap anyone after all."

"But, you said-"

"Yeah I know what I said, but a guy can be wrong sometimes, can't he?" Jack said, apathetically shrugging his shoulders as he spoke.

The officer inhaled deeply before releasing a heavy sigh, taking a knee so that he would be on eye-level with the other rabbit.

"Look kid, I get it. Things like this, they're nasty," He rested his paw on Jack's shoulder, "doesn't mean we can just ignore what he did. There's a price to be paid-"

The jackrabbit allowed the officer's words to be drowned out by the hundreds of other noises ringing out that night. If they didn't get off of them soon, Judy would be...

The younger rabbit tore away from the cop, running out into the heart of the mob.

…

"Guys?!" Jack shouted again, trying his hardest to push between the group of rabbits, and the fox.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing Jack, get out of the way!"

"Get the fuck out of there!"

"C'mon, again?!"

The crowd hissed at the other rabbit synchronistically.

"Hold on!" Jack shouted, his paws raised defensively. "Just, hear me out!" he was struggling to shout over the crowd.

"Let Nature run its course Jack!" the policeman from earlier could be heard shouting amongst the crowd.

Despite his desperate pleas, he was only one rabbit standing in the way of many. With ease the crowd converged on the fox again, tossing the jackrabbit to and fro. Time and time again, Jack dove through the crowd to reach Nick and Judy, only to be dragged away again.

"Stop! Didn't I tell you to stop!? What do you want me to say!?" he shrieked. The warm anger stemming from the crowd almost seemed to manifest itself in the orange street lights, igniting the entire square in a phantom blaze, a hellish nightmare.

"You're killing her!"

And the crowd did not relent.

"Please! I didn't mean for this to happen!"

And the crowd did not relent.

"It was all a joke!"

And the crowd did not relent.

"I lied! I fucking lied! You're killing two innocent kids!" the jackrabbit finally broke down, his typical calm and collected exterior melting to the ground around them.

Slowly but surely, the crowd calmed down.

No one in Bunnyburrow had ever seen Jack cry, let alone shriek for mercy.

…

The Sticks and stones found their way to the floor.

The aggrieved cries for justice became gentle whispers of concern.

The once tumultuous ocean of rabbits dulled into a calm ocean, still buzzing with dormant, terrifying strength.

But calm.

"I lied, ok?" Jack choked the words out between sobs. "I lied because I'm a selfish, jealous asshole." The rabbit wiped the tears in his eyes away.

Cautiously, Nick looked up from his position on the floor Judy strained to crawl out from under him, having been hidden beneath the fox in an effort to protect her from the brunt of the mob.

"Jack…" the police rabbit from earlier started. "You could have gotten these kids killed, do you know what you've done?"

The other rabbits in the crowd turned to one another, each and every one of them murmuring something to the other. Many of them nodded their heads, cries of "Yeah!" and "shame on you" echoing into the now eerily still night.

Judy, finding the strength to stand – and an opportunity to speak her mind – crept over to jack.

"Shame? On Jack?" she asked the crowd, several of the other rabbits faces contorting in a look of confusion.

"Judy…" Jack held his paw out to her shoulder, only to have it swatted away.

"What Jack did… was horrible." The female rabbit spoke, trying to catch her breath, her heartbeat finally slowing back down to a reasonable pace. "I- I don't think I could ever forgive him…"

For the first time that night, Judy had all eyes on her, each and every one of the rabbits listening intently.

"But _none_ of you did the right thing either. Any one of you could have stopped this." She paused for a moment, closing her eyes in reflection. " _I_ didn't do the right thing. We all fucked up and," she watched as the wounded Mrs. Wilde made her way over to her son, slumping to the floor next to him, "and innocent people suffered because of _us_."

With that, the town square fell to silence, a blanket of stillness spreading out over the crowd, their hearts in their throats.

Eventually, the silence was broken.

"Jack, I'm going to need you to come with me." The stoutly bunny cop from before took the smaller rabbits paw in his own. Jack didn't fight it. Instead, he willingly walked off with the older rabbit.

…

As the last of the patrol cars left the square, the mob-goers slowly began the trudge back to their respective burrows.

It had been a long night.

Judy rested against the oak tree Nick had been chained to, accompanied by the fox and his mother. A long night indeed. The three slumped together, too tired to move.

"Mrs. Wilde?" it was Mr. Hopps. "Let us drive you to the town clinic. Its…the least we can do." He held his farmers cap in his paws, scrunching it up in his paws.

Turning to her son, and then to the little bunny rabbit that laid beside her, Mrs. Wilde looked up at Judy's parents and nodded cordially.

…

"You're lucky to have made it out alive, you know that?" the bunny nurse explained as she wrapped the gauze around Nick's head. Her eyes were red and puffy, as if she had been crying not all that long ago. "You two will be staying her overnight, we're gonna keep an eye on you."

The fox nodded.

"Thank you…" Judy spoke quietly, her head still pounding.

"We're a small clinic. We can't do much for you, but I'll do all I can." The nurse explained before turning to walk out the room. As she neared the door, she stopped.

"Ya know, I was in the town square tonight."

Nick and Judy shared an understandingly glance before looking back to the nurse.

"And what you said kid" she continued, now looking at Judy. "It really resonated with me. We… we've got some work to do around here." The rabbit quickly excused herself from the room. She looked like she was on the verge of tears again.

The two animals were left alone again.

The clinician's room was small, and the candle light did a poor job of illuminating much past the table it sat on. Still, the flame gently casted its faint glow on the ground, as best as it could, stopping just short of Judy. Leaving her in the inky blackness.

Unfortunately.

The ghostly image of her his night vision gave him wasn't enough. Nick wanted to know how she was doing. He needed to see her. He had to-

"You ok over there, Slick?" the rabbit spoke up. "I can't see very well."

"Me?" the fox paused for a moment, was he ok? "Of course, I've got my guardian angel by my side, don't I?"

The bunny chuckled before standing up and out of her seat, stumbling through the darkness of the room as she crossed over to Nick.

"Well, I must be a _pretty_ shitty guardian angel. You're the one who saved _me_ tonight, scruff." She pulled herself up onto the bed Nick was sitting on. It had already been decided that the one bed in the room was _his_ tonight.

But he didn't mind sharing.

"Oh, ya know. Just felt like I had to pay you back."

"Yeah?" Judy bit her lip, her little buck teeth poking out from her mouth slightly.

"Uh huh" the fox nodded gently, his head still rattling.

"Well, let me pay _you_ back" the rabbit had already begun to lean in for a kiss, her paw trailing up the side of his throat, trying to pull his head down towards her.

He wouldn't budge.

"Judy."

She pulled a little harder.

" _Judy_."

"Ni-Nick?" her voice trembled, her paw sliding back down his neck and into her lap.

"I'm leaving the burrows."

"Ok…"

"Ok?" the fox asked.

"Ok, I'm coming with you; that was the plan all along, right?"

"Judy, stop it."

"What!? What am I doing wrong?" Nick could barely make out the features of her delicate face in this lighting. She looked hurt.

"You're making this harder than it has to be!" he explained, scooting away from her.

"I…"

"You can do better than a fox, _Judith_. The life my mother and I live in the city, its nothing like you're used to." He rubbed his face with his paws. "I could _never_ give you everything you deserve."

"Nick… When you love someone-"

"Love? Judy we've been 'dating' for all of two days. What if you don't _really_ love me? What if I'm just some pity project? Trust me rabbit, stick around with me for a while and you'll wish you were back in your comfy house out in the country." He took a moment to brush the paw encroaching upon his knee away. "So why don't we just save us both the trouble and-"

"Stick around with you?" the rabbit interrupted.

" _What?"_

"You said if I stuck around with you for a while I'd be sick of you!" Judy reminded him, "That I'd wish I were back at home."

" _So what_?" the fox spat.

"So What!? Boy, I've been dealing with your fluffy tail for a _while_ now. I don't need to kiss you and hold your paw to see you for the real you."

The fox leaned away from her. Oh boy, now he's gone and shot off his trap…

"Why didn't you ask _me_ how _I_ felt!"

"I…"

"And while we're at it, what is it with you and always looking so far into the future? 'You're gonna be a copper, I'm gonna be a business fox, the cities gonna suck, it's not all it's cracked up to be. You're gonna hate me once you get to know me' _sheesh!"_ she mocked him for a while, trying out her best Nick Wilde impression; which, admittedly, got a chuckle or two out of the fox.

"Why don't you just live in the moment for once?" she said, her paw on his knee again. This time, when the fox's own paw rose off the bed, it wasn't to brush hers off, but to clasp onto it.

"Ok, fine. We'll just ignore all the potential pot holes in our future. We'll hit them, and crash _and burn_." The fox closed his eyes and inhaled. "And probably die, but hey! Let's live in the moment!" he opened his eyes again, a smile finding its way to his lips.

" _That's the spirit_." Judy returned his toothy grin, despite the fact that she could barely see his face in the void that seemed to consume the room now.

" _But!"_

"But?" the rabbit asked. "Why's there gotta be a but?"

"If I'm gonna throw caution to the wind, I've got a condition."

"Oh boy…"

"Here me out!"

"Ok fine, shoot."

The fox gently pressed his forehead against hers. "You've been asking a lot of questions tonight fluff, so now I get to ask one. If you answer truthfully, then you can tag along."

"Fine, floors yours foxy." She said, nuzzling against his face tenderly.

"Do you really love me?"

The rabbit paused for a moment, pulling her head away. The fox watched as she put her thumb to her chin and looked up at the jet-black roof as if deep in thought. "Do I love you?" she answered his question with a question of her own.

"I do." She smiled as she pulled his chin in closer to her own, pecking him on the lips delicately. "I do. I do. I do. I do. _I do_!" she continued, each "I do" punctuated by a kiss.

She didn't need to have her sight to be able to feel his smile widen against her own.

…

The fox groggily turned over, watching as the light from the hall way came pouring into the room as his bunny stepped in, darkness returning the moment she shut the door.

"Is she ok?" he asked.

"Yeah, she'll be fine. Just a few broken ribs. I think she's happier to hear that you're ok honestly." the rabbit explained before crawling back up onto his bed, dangling her feet off the side.

The teens sat in a genial peace for a while, the wooden clock ticking away. They really should be getting some sleep.

"Judy?"

"Yeah?" She responded, staring at the dimming candle. It wouldn't have made any difference had she looked at him. She couldn't see worth a damn, but it didn't really bother her.

"Think your Ma and Pa will be ok with you running away with me?"

"Nah, but I'll sneak away if I have to." Her toes wriggled listlessly, still dangling off the bed.

"Yeah?" Nick replied in a mocking tone, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Yup, maybe we can sneak off at the dead of night!"

"Maybe we could!"

"Yeah, walk ourselves down to the train station." Judy continued.

"Uh huh?" the fox asked, imploring her to continue.

"Yup… yup, we could catch one of the night trains."

"Think so?"

"Of course we could!" Judy assured him.

"Huh, think it'll work this time?" Nick asked, his tongue in his cheek.

"Nah, but it was sorta romantic the first time, don't you think?" she taunted him back.

"Fine, but let's bring my Ma along next time. I swear, the phone booth over there is bad luck!"

The pair sat together laughing, Nick sitting up so that he could dangle his own legs off the bed, occasionally bumping Judy's playfully.

" _Ah"_ the rabbit exhaled, lying back in the bed, the fox following suite, still playing footsies with the bunny.

"What's up?"

Judy didn't reply for a while, instead mulling over whatever it was that she had to say for a while. Until she finally spoke.

"Why is it that you don't like the city anyways?"

It was the foxes turn to think.

"Guess I just didn't have anyone to appreciate it with." He decided, his paw slowly finding hers.

"Well- don't you worry yourself about _that_ anymore Red. The summers still young, and we've got plenty of time to enroll in another school. I foresee you showing me around."

"Is that so?"

"Yup."

"You 'foresee'?" the fox asked, turning on his side to look at the rabbit, bathed in the shadows.

"Mhm." She responded, turning to meet him. Probably. She couldn't really see.

"Do tell rabbit, where do you derive your awesome powers of augury?" Nick asked, a charming scoff coming from his mouth.

"Augury? Pfft, _calm down there_ Snakespeare. Call it a hunch."

…

The train slowly came to a complete stop. The trio of mammals already had their suitcases in their paws before it even began rolling in.

 _Here we go…_

"You'll always have your home to come back to Judy…"

"Don't be a stranger."

Judy's ears stood erect when she heard their voices, it was her parents.

"Guys…" the female rabbit trotted over to them, dragging her luggage with her. She dropped the briefcase only to wrap her arms around them in a tight embrace. "This is going to be good for me. They've got a great police academy in the down town district and-"

"We know, we know…" Bonnie interrupted her, rubbing her back tenderly.

"You're gonna miss your train Jude, good luck." Her father said, patting her gently before letting go.

Judy nodded before continuing back to the edge of the platform. "I'll keep in touch" she assured them, walking over to join Nick and his mother.

The vixen sighed deeply. Giving the burrows one last look.

"Ma, it's fine. There'll be other Jobs."

The mother nodded understandingly, picking up her suitcase and climbing aboard the train, her son following suite.

Judy had one foot through the door before she was stopped again, another paw gently tugging her back.

"Gonna leave without saying goodbye?" a jackrabbit asked, wearing a concerned smile.

"I was planning on it." She responded, trying her hardest not to scowl at him. "Besides, don't you have community service to be doing or something?"

"Look, does wanting to wish an old friend good luck on her journey before she leaves forever make me a terrible rabbit?" he spat back at her, clearly irritated.

"No, that's not it. For what it's worth, I wish you the best of luck in life." She replied, trying her hardest to remain civil.

"Thanks."

"You still planning on going professional with your football career?" she asked, trying to make small talk.

"No, in light of recent events, it doesn't look like I'll be getting those scholarships after all." Jack explained, his hands on his hips. It almost looked like he blamed her.

Judy scoffed before turning around again, making her way onto the train.

"Judith, wait."

Her eyes raised to meet the jack rabbits.

"You know you can do better than him."

Judy closed her eyes, inhaling deeply.

"Goodbye Jack."

The train doors slid shut and the young bunny suddenly realized how real this all was.

Beyond those doors laid the only world she knew.

Knew.

Past tense.

Maybe looking towards the future is good for _some things_.

…

The jackrabbit backed away from the platform, joining the Hopps as they watched the train speed off into the distance.

"Why did we let her go, Stu?" Bonnie asked halfheartedly. She leaned her head against her husband.

"Hun, You know Judy. She's gonna do what she wants, no matter what we say." He smiled as he stroked her ears back against her head. "Let's just try to make our home a better place for her to come back to someday, okay?" as he spoke, tears welled up in his eyes.

His mate nodded her head slowly, sobs gently escaping her mouth.

"Okay."

…

"Hey slick." Judy greeted her the fox, nudging him slightly in the side.

" _Ow_ "

"Sorry, sorry."

The two took their seats, Mrs. Wilde already dozing off in the train car across from them. The rabbit whistled to herself as the burrows whizzed past them at break neck speeds. The early morning light gave the district a cozy feeling. At first glance, no one would ever expect the evils this place was capable of.

"Shoot, guess you aren't going to get that late night train ride you wanted." The bunny asked, looking up at her fox companion.

"Well, never say never fluff. Next time we visit, I'll be sure to get us night tickets." The fox said, fixing the bandage wrapped tightly around his head.

"Next time? Whens that gonna be?"

"Eh, let's just live in the moment."

The Rabbit chuckled "Whatever you say slick." she pressed her face against the window. They were officially out of Bunnyburrow now and beautiful sights she had never witnessed slowly began to unfold before her eyes.

"We can take our time."

…

Bunny Burrow.

As dreary a place as one could hope to find.

…

 **Authors Note: I can hear it already: "Wasn't this supposed to be a fluffy story?"**

 **Whoops**

 **Sorry about flipping the script on you guys, it just didn't seem like the fluff alone was going to cut it. I swear I didn't mean for it to become** ** _quite_** **as bleak as it did, but I felt there was a message to be told. I mean, it wasn't a particularly original message, and a tad on the nose if you ask me, but a message I feel passionate about all the same. That being said, I probably won't ever dive into something this racially charged again in one of my personal stories. It was all a bit intense, even for me.**

 **Regardless, it was a fun experiment, and I'm glad you all came along for the ride! I'm particularly happy to have this all wrapped up now, as I've had another Wildehopps story in the works for several weeks now. I intend on this next piece being longer than any other work I've put out thus far, so I hope you'll stick around to see it.**

 **Once again, thank you so much for reading my crummy little tales! If you liked this story – or even if you didn't – let me know why! There is nothing I love more than interacting with you all!**

 **Until next time, cheers!**


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